Massive 1,800-mile winter storm slams large swath of the US with heavy snow and dangerous travel chaos
A nearly 2,000-mile stretch of the US has been warned that the 'mother lode of cold air' is about to move in and hammer millions of Americans with snow starting today.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued winter weather advisories across a massive strip of the Plains and Midwest, including several counties in Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
NWS officials warned that several inches of snow will fall between Thursday and Friday, causing reduced visibility for drivers and dangerously slippery roads throughout the region.
Cities such as Indianapolis and Cincinnati could see up to six inches of snow, while some parts of Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas could receive between one and two feet of accumulation.
The main body of the snow storm has been forecasted to start tonight into early Friday across Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and southern Illinois, delivering up to five inches of snow in many areas.
NWS warned that conditions will deteriorate throughout Thursday, impacting the morning commute from Montana to Western Pennsylvania before moving east and threatening the East Coast over the weekend.
The Dakotas may also see ice glaze over several inches of snow overnight, while lake-effect snow could drift even farther east, blowing up to six inches of snow into Pennsylvania and New York Thursday night.
Meteorologists from AccuWeather added that the winter blast is being carried by a massive wave of frigid air sweeping down from Canada during the prolonged polar vortex slamming the US this month.
Meteorologists have predicted several inches of snow to fall between Thursday and Friday over a large portion of the country (Stock Image)
The National Weather Service has issued winter weather advisories for snow and poor travel conditions over an 1,800-mile stretch (Seen in purple) on Thursday
The polar vortex, which floods into the US when the stable stream of cold air over the North Pole weakens, has sent temperatures in the Midwest plunging over 30 degrees below the normal December highs that are typically in the 30s or 40s.
AccuWeather chief on-air meteorologist Bernie Rayno said: 'This is the mother lode of cold air and is a term I don't use lightly.'
Rayno added that the Arctic air hitting the US this week has been flowing south from a portion of northwestern Canada where temperatures have fallen to between -20°F and -30°F.
The bone-chilling and dangerous air is expected to freeze the Plains states on Thursday and Friday before moving into the Great Lakes region on Saturday and the entire Northeast by Sunday.
By the weekend, temperatures in Minneapolis are predicted to fall below zero, and dip into the single digits in Chicago.
Forecasters have warned millions of Americans in the path of the polar vortex this week to avoid staying outdoors for prolonged periods because of the threat to human health.
AccuWeather lead long-range meteorologist Paul Pastelok explained: 'Exposure or those without shelter in these conditions, especially with blustery winds, can lead to hypothermia or frostbite in less than 30 minutes.'
The polar vortex producing this deep freeze is like a giant, spinning whirlpool of cold air high up in the atmosphere above the North Pole.
The polar vortex slamming the US this month is expected to send another wave of cold air from Canada this weekend, sending temperatures below zero in many areas
Winter weather advisories have been issued throughout the Plains, Midwest, and Mid-Atlantic, and have even reached norther New York (Pictured)
It's normally held in place by strong winds that act as a barrier, keeping the extreme cold locked away in Greenland and Canada, but strong storms and high-pressure systems have sent ripples of warmer air upward that knocked this vortex off balance.
That's allowed icy air to plunge south into the US, where it's colliding with warmer air moving north from the Gulf Coast, creating the perfect conditions to create heavy winter storms in the northern half of the country this month.
Last year, AccuWeather predicted that this week's winter blast would be the second of three 'polar vortex episodes' expected to slam the US before winter officially begins on December 21.
Climatologist Judah Cohen, a research scientist at MIT, revealed that computer models have forecasted the third episode could hit the US East Coast with extremely cold conditions 'in the third week of December.'
These big surges of stratospheric cold air crashing down to ground level are what have continued to create record-low temperatures.
Although these events often move on quickly, the weather phenomenon known as La Niña has teamed up with the unstable polar vortex to create a 'stuck' pattern, where cold air pools over the eastern US and doesn't leave.
However, some forecasters believe there could be a break in the frigid weather next week, as current predictions show the jet stream, which flows across the US, beginning to straighten out and push the cold Canadian air back north.
'While it may feel like Christmastime already with the cold and snow, the bitterly cold pattern is not expected to last through the holidays,' Pastelok noted.
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